HHS OIG Finds Medicare Enrollment Resiliency Lacking

A report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did not adequately secure the Medicare enrollment system, which is the primary source of information for the beneficiary population. The report estimated that a nonfuctional enrollment database would have a financial impact of roughly $47 million for each day the database remained down. The full report was not released to the public, but HHS OIG notes that they “found that CMS could improve its risk management oversight and the current controls in place to ensure the availability of the enrollment database.” The report included five recommendations that CMS agreed to implement, and CMS also noted that the system is being integrated into a larger Medicare system.